High Blood Cholesterol can be effected by a variety of lifestyle choices including diet, activity level, smoking and weight, all of which can increase the risk of heart disease. It is therefore important for PHNs to focus on intervention strategies given the potential benefit of behaviour modifying education. According to the ABS, Australian Health Survey, […]

The 2016 E-Government Survey issued by the United Nations poses some surprises and challenges. Australia received a weighted E-Government Development Index (EGDI) score of 0.9143 for 2016, made up of three components: Online Service Index (OSI), Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII), and Human Capital Index. In the throes of Rio Olympic fever, one could smugly sit […]

The Australian Health Policy Collaboration has just published the Australian Health Tracker Report 2016.* This first national health report card is a welcome addition to the debate on health service needs. As an example, the report puts the national average for Diabetes at 4.7% for the 25-65 age group and rising. To plot this against […]

Digital health information can be pushed or pulled, and while most health information systems are likely to have components of both, it is important to understand that they exist in different paradigms and require different policy and legislation. Pushing of digitalised health data works in wa­­ys similar to paper based systems; only electronically. Pushed health […]

We have the numbers… now we can use them. It is the question of the decade: how do we not just collect but effectively use data to plan for the future of health. Increasing concerns surrounding rising healthcare costs, population densities, chronic diseases and aging populations only add fuel to this discussion. Data collection itself […]